Hiram Perkins

{{Short description|American astronomer and philanthropist}}

File:Hiram Perkins.jpeg

File:2012sept WesleyanUniversityStudentObservatory000.jpg

Hiram Mills Perkins (1833-1924) was Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Ohio Wesleyan University and benefactor of the Perkins Telescope in the Perkins Observatory.{{Cite web|url=http://www.setileague.org/articles/perkins.htm|title=A Short History of Perkins Observatory|website=www.setileague.org|accessdate=May 7, 2023}} He helped build to observatory buildings and also left an endowment for the school, and also his house was later used as a dormitory before it was sold off.

Perkins taught at the university from 1873 to 1907.{{cite web|url=https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll36/id/17009|title=Perkins Student Observatory Photographs|website=www.ohiomemory.org}}

The Perkins telescope was the 3rd largest telescope in the world when it achieved first light in 1931.

The telescope was eventually moved to Lowell Observatory, and the 69-inch mirror was sent to a museum when it was replaced by a 72 inch one at that observatory.

In 1880 Perkins built a house at 235 W. William St, which was later used as a dorm by OWU.

Perkin's house survived into the 21st century, and was used as a dorm by OWU university.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/11/21/historic-building-in-downtown-delaware-to-be.html|title=Historic building in downtown Delaware to be converted into 43-room hotel|website=www.bizjournals.com|access-date=2019-10-01}} The home (later dorm) was located 235 W. William St. In the 2017 the school sold it off for 170,000 USD, to a developer who planned to convert it into a hotel.